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IN CRYSTAL HILLS 




NORTH CONWAY 

NEW HAMPSHIRE 

...By... 

FREDERICK J. ALLEN 



Published by 

FREDERICK J. ALLEN 

2 Park Square, Boston, Massachusetts 



UBHARY ot CONGRESS 
I wo Copies iteceivM 

JUL 6 iy08 

, utiffllltlH LIIUJI 

CLASS A XXC. Nu 

2. O 9 -2 i-( f 

COPY B. 



iiV. 



Copyright, 1908 
By FREDERICK J. ALLEN 



COLLIMBIA-WEBCOWIT PRESS 
84 Broadway, Somerville, Mass., U. S. A. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Page 



The Village of North Conway 








8 


The Intervale and Presidential Range 






12 


The Saco ..... 






14 


The White Mountains from Intervale 






16 


Moat Mountain and the Ledges 






20 


White Horse Ledge .... 






22 


The Cathedral . 








24 


Echo Lake 








26 


Diana's Baths 








28 


Thompson's Falls 








30 


The Enchanted Woods 








32 


Artist Falls 








34 


Thompson's Grove 








36 


Artist Falls Brook 








38 


Kearsarge and Bartlett Mountains 






40 


Redstone Quarry .... 






42 


View From Mt. Surprise ( Village of Intervale) 






44 


The Wizard Birch at Intervale 






46 


The Cathedral Pines at Interv 


ale 






48 





LIST OF 


POEMS 








i 


Page 


North Conway in the Crystal Hills .... 9 


The Wood Thrush 








11 


The Intervale 














13 


The Saco 














15 


Mt. Washington 














17 


Moat Mountain 














21 


White Horse Ledge 














23 


The Cathedral . 














25 


Echo Lake 














27 


Diana's Baths 














29 


Thompson's I- alls 














31 


The Enchanted Woods 














33 


Artist Falls 














35 


Thompson's Falls 














37 


Artist Falls Brook 














39 


Mt. Kearsarge 














41 


Redstone Quarry 














43 


From Mt. Surprise 














45 


The Wizard Birch 














47 


The Cathedral Fines 














49 


The Crystal Hills 














50 


I Am the Wind 














52 


Old New Hampshire 














54 







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THE VILLAGE OF NORTH CONWAY 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 



NORTH CONWAY IN THE CRYSTAL HILLS 

NORTH CONWAY lies beneath blue skies, 

By her majestic stream, 
A picture from far Paradise, 

A vision and a dream. 

liy sun-kissed hill or ocean foam. 

By field or forest fair, 
For ages man hath built his home, 

And set Love's altar there. 

And evermore by vale and steep. 
With clustering homes and spires, 

Men dwell in amity and keep 
The race's altar fires. 

Sweet Auburn, one thy praises sung. 
And straight the world knew thee ; 

Dear Stratford, one thy name gave tongue. 
And thine is homage free. 

A people's virtue or bright fame 

Of noble soul and true. 
Gives many a hamlet glorious name 

In Old World and in New. 



IN CR YS TAL HILLS 



In thousand villag'es of our land 
Peace and Good Will abide, 

Oldest and newest joining hand 
To keep the countryside. 

Far from the city's endless strife, 
Among the mountains old. 

Far from the discords of our life, 
Like jewel set in gold, 

North Conway lies 'neath sunny skies 

Along the Saco fair, 
A picture from far Paradise, 

In setting rich and rare. 

O Nature, mother of us all, 

In field or flower or pine 
We see thy hand and hear thy call, 

And worship at thy shrine. 

Sweet Village in the Crystal Hills, 
Dear home of rest and peace, 

In thee her promise Joy fulfils 
And giveth Pain surcease. 



10 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 



THE WOOD THRUSH 

IN THE NORTH CONWAY FOREST 

WHEN westward low descends the sun's red car 
A lingering woodland note my heart enthralls ; 
O hark ! O list I It is the wood thrush calls 

From out the forest dim ; and sweet afar 

The ripple glides to greet the evening star, 
As when upon enchanted mountain walls 
Soft wind-harps sound, or fairy music falls 

In stilly hours beneath the moon's pale bar. 

O Vesper Singer in thy sylvan glades, 

What gift is thine, how thrills .the enraptured air 
Beneath the burden of thy song ! Oh, cease 
Not while on field and forest deep the shades 
Of night are mantling down ; but, singing there, 
To all the hushed and listening earth give peace. 




THE INlKkVALK AND PRESIDENTIAL RANGE 



IN CR YS TAL HILLS 



THE INTERVALE 

WHEN nature's giant forces reared 
These hills from caldrons far below 

Each mass of stone uncrowned and seared 
Soon wore its robe of green or snow. 

Thus nature worketh; rocky waste 
Becomes the forest green and rare, 

The desei't lowland soon is graced 
With grass and fern and flower fair. 

Like these the meadows in tlie lands 
()f mystic nge and fabled time ; 

Like these the meads along the sands 
Of Simois in Asian clime. 

Sweet Greece and Italy are graced 

With sunny skies and vales like these ; 

And in the books of men are traced 
Such visions that the poet sees. 

Outspread beneath this northern sky, 
Soft kissed by breeze or swept by gale 

That Cometh from yon mountains high, 
Fair is this northern intervale. 

13 




THE SACO 



IN CR YS TAL HILLS 



THE SACO 

FROM many a glen and dai"k ravine 
Unite a thousand purling rills, 

Till flows the river fringed with green, 
Fair River of the Northern Hills. 

In majesty thou movest on 

To pour thy flood in ocean's tide ; 

What mysteries of ages gone 
Lie buried in thy bosom wide ? 

What tribes of men thy course beheld 
Ere first the White Man hither came? 

What brave deeds of the ages eld 

Hast thou hid from the trump of fame ? 

The Red Man kindled here his fire. 
By stream and mountain unafraid ; 

And here he found his heart's desire, 
The answering heart of Indian maid. 

The peace of centuries broodeth here, 

Fair River of the Intervale ; 
And in thy waters, crystal clear, 

The sunset's glory shall not fail. 




THE WHITE MOUNTAINS FROM INTERVALE 



IN CR YS TAL HILLS 



MT. WASHINGTON 

HAIL! O Momircli of New England! 
Mightiest of her ancient mountains, 
Peak supreme among thy fellows 
Rising round thee like a stairway, 
Stairway of enduring granite, 
Where the giants of days olden 
Mounted to thy hoary summit 
And thence gazed upon the wide world. 

In some peon prehistoric 

Nature built thy granite bases, 

And thy kingly crest uplifted. 

Then as now sweet Morning crowned thee 

With her light pink, rose, and saffron, 

And the Noonday poured his arrows 

Vainly on thy mailed shoulders; 

Then as now the Evening lingered 

O'er thee with her lights and shadows, 

Evening mystic Night's fair portal. 

Evening ebon Night's pale portal. 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 



Answering the far Atlantic 
Throbs the heart that lies within thee, 
Bulwark of the land puissant, 
And thy foothills feel and tremble 
From thy base to ocean's margin. 
Softly fall the rains of summer, 
And thy thirst give sweet refreshing; 
Variant cloud-forms o'er thee hover, 
As they heard thy heart's deep calling, 
And thy summit wreathe in beauty. 

Tempests smite thee in their anger 
At thy grandeur and defiance, 
At thine teon-long defiance ; 
And old Winter with his ermine 
Lingers long upon thy high crest. 
Running there his northern courses. 

Down thy sides dark caverns yawning 
Tell the throes of distant ages. 
Tell of Nature's grand upheaval ; 



18 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 



Many a path of bounding torrent 
Marks thy gray and somber ledges; 
Many a shattered cliff or boulder 
Witnesses the Storm King's vengeance, 
Smiting on thee with his lightning. 

On Olympus, Mount Thessalian, 
Dwelt the gods in days heroic ; 
On Mt. Sinai were the Tables 
Of the Law to men entrusted ; 
Ever shall man's feet ascending 
Earthly mountain come near Heaven, 
Ever shall his spirit follow 
Where the Spirit Universal 
Moves in mystery and power 
Through the ether's endless spaces. 

Mountain Beauteous, Mountain Glorious, 
Worthy of the name thou bearest. 
Mount of- Vision be forever 
For a great and noble people. 



19 




MOAT MOUNTAIN AND THE LEDGES 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 



MOAT MOUNTAIN 

OLD mountain wall, with sanimit' seared 
'Neatli many a summer's sun on liigli, 

What Titan hand thy mass upreared 
And tiknl thy crest against the sky? 

Ifavine ;;nd shadowy pass are there, 
And ton-ent's path and winter's scars; 

And there oft falls the moonlight fair, 
With golden sheen of crystal stars. 

In the soft stillness of the night 

Tliy thousand harps with music swell; 

IJoth evening shade and morning light 
Alternate on thee cast their spell. 

Old Moat, of jeweled porphyry 

And many a rare and beauteous stone, 

Lo! thou art crowned with majesty, 
And set along- the land alone. 



21 




WHITE HORSE LEDGE 



IN CRIYSTAL HILLS 



WHITE HORSE LEDGE 

SILENT and gi"ay, with adamantine crest, 
Yon cliff uprises at the mountain's base, 
And bears a snow-white figure on its face, 

A horse forever rearing toward the west ; 

Below, in limpid sheen and shadow drest. 

The fair lake lies, and flows with matchless grace 
Old Saco's crystal tide. The cliff hath place 

By mount and vale where Nature wrought her best. 

'Tis here the sweetness of the woodland fills 
The heart with rest; 'tis here the poet dreams. 
Interpreter of the omniscient plan 
Of him who graved His glory in the hills. 

And set His beauty by ten thousand streams, 
And made the earth a paradise for man. 



23 




THE CATHEDRAL 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 



THE CATHEDRAL 

HEWED from tlie high cliff's yawning side, 
With lofty arch and transept wide, 
And walled with maple, beech, and pine, 
Is this Cathedral's mystic shrine. 

These walls pearl-gi-ay, soft green, and brown 
With water ever trickling down, 
More beauteous are than graven stone. 
And here my heart shall find its own. 

In fane and shrine man's hand hath wrought. 
And forms divine hath Genius caught 
From that fair world of dreams where rise 
Faiths' altars with their sacrifice. 

But God his noblest temples rears 
With his own hand ; his thought appears 
In blooms that fringe the meadow rill 
And in the granite-templed hill. 




ECHO LAKE 



IN CR YSTAL MILLS 



ECHO LAKE 

FAIR is thy storied lake, sweet Gallilee, 

Across wliose shining wave the Lord Christ passed; 

And fair is Leman's limpid crescent, cast 
Upon the Rhone, blue lake ot" mystery. 
The New VVoi-ld beauteous is, with inland sea, 

Majestic river, mountain, forest vast ; 

And in New Hampshire's hills, () Nature, hast 
Thou wrought with thy most wondrous alchemy. 

Crystal Lake, lying in solitude. 

Forever guarded by yon warder gray. 

And fringed around by hemlock, fir, and pine ; 
Here trembling lights and mystic shadows brood, 
And Echo dies like bell at close of day ; 

Here is earth's sweetest spot, O Font Divine ! 



27 




DIANA'S BATHS 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 



DIANA'S BATHS 

THY course is broken here, O Woodland Stream, 
By ledges rended deep in throes of old, 
liy boulders cast in figures manifold 

When Nature graved the rocks with art supreme; 

Here ever brood the shadow and the dream. 
And lofty trees their mystic branches hold 
Like sentinels above the waters cold. 

While ever shineth here the wave's soft gleam. 

Fair Dian laved in fountains in far days. 
To crystal flood revealing form divine ; 

Fair Dian wandered free in woodland ways 
And heard the harmonies of stream and pine; 

Yet never on her raptured senses never fell 

Sound sweeter, sight more fair, in sylvan dell. 



29 




THOMPSON'S FALLS 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 



THOMPSON'S FALLS 

BULWARK of broken ledoes, 
Moss-covered and old and gray. 

Crumbled on ends and edges 

And wet with the falling spray ; 

Titans these rocks have riven, 
Have riven in some wild chase ; 

Titans their spears have driven 
Deep into the green hill's base. 

Flood of the spring hath bounded 
Adown from the green hill's side, 

Voice of the flood hath sounded 
Afar through the forest wide. 

Sweet is thy sound in summer, 
O Fall of the Wild wood Stream, 

Filling the heart of each comer 
With peace like a sylvan dream. 



31 




THE ENCHANTED WOODS 



IN CR YS TAL HILLS 



THE ENCHANTED WOODS 

MAJP^STIC, mystical, these old pines tower, 
Unheedful of earth's changes year by year, 
Tlieir armor seamed and knotted, brown and sere 

( )n every hand soft fern and woodland flower 

In fragrance grow, 'neath their protectors' power. 
Save for the wind-harp's whisperings all here 
Is silence grateful, and there broodeth e'er 

The Spirit of the world's fair Morning Hour. 

( ) here is place to come when love is new. 
And rising struggles at the spirit's bars ; 

And here is place to come when love is old. 
And sees again in loving eyes the stars: 

For here, at Nature's heart, all things are true, 

And loving souls communion sweet may hold. 



33 



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ARTIST FALLS 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 



ARTIST FALLS 

BATHED with the glow of morning 
Gohlen and gray and white, 

Gemmed by the noon's adorning, 
Fair at the fall of night; 

Crescent and spray and sparkle, 

Music of lotus lands. 
Shadows that pass and darkle, 

Home of the elfin bands ; 

Mosses and tree and boulder, 

Carpet of autumn leaves: 
Here, as the year grows older, 

Nature her beauty weaves. 

Here is the spirit granted 
Balm for the care that calls; 

Here is the heart enchanted, 
Lulled by these crystal falls. 



35 




THOMPSON'S GROVE 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 



THOMPSON'S GROVE 

THE traffic of the busy world goes by, 
The horse of iron daily thunders past 
Upon his endless round, from ocean vast 

Unto the kingly hills, from mountain high 

Down to the shore where princely cities lie. 
Stern Industry while human need shall last 
Upon the primal world her spell shall cast, 

And rear her banners 'neatli the holy sky. 

Sweet Grove, where man may come and refuge find. 
Thy sacred silences shall hush the pain 

That broodeth in the breast ; thy spirit, old 
As nature, new as morn, shall touch the mind 
With influence Lethean: here, come loss or gain, 
Earth's rarest visions shall my heart behold. 



37 




ARTIST FALLS BROOK 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 



ARTIST FALLS BROOK 

STREAM from the forest flowing free, 
What greeting bringest thou to nie? 
What message from the mount afar 
Where beats the storm and shines the star? 

Beholding thee Faith shall not cease ! 
F'rom out the tempest comes tliy peace ; 
From hill to sea along thy strand 
Kind Plenty blesses all the land. 

Within thy mirror gleams the sky, 
And in thy heart all mysteries lie 
Of field and wood ; of man and maid, 
For ever here have lovers strayed. 

Like thrushnote when the twilight falls. 
Or wind-harp sweet on mountain walls, 
Thy music soundeth evermore 
From crested hill to ocean shore. 



39 




KEARSARGE AND BARTLETT MOUNTAINS 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 



MT. KEARSARGE 

WHEN stars are slowly fading in the sky 
And night is softly paling into dawn, 
When birds begin to sing upon the lawn, 

Then like some ancient ruin rising high 

Old Kearsarge proudly looms before the eye : 
Darkness below; above, the curtains drawn, 
Morn's crimson rays upon his crest are strawn. 

And gorgeous hosts of Light the Night defy. 

O who hath seen the morning in the hills? 

O who hath climbed some mountain ere the sun, 
And seen his shafts of glory quivering rise? 
Then climb Old Kearsarge ere Aurora fills 

The land with light; the stars pale one by one. 
And, lo ! Morn's Miracle on earth and skies ! 



41 




REDSTONE QUARRY 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 



REDSTONE QUARRY 

EVER hath the fair earth yiekled 
Riches boundless for her children, 
Gold of Ophir and a New World's 
Mines of silver, India's silken 
Wares and spices, Afric's diamond, 
Pearl of ocean. Orient opal, 
And a thousand iridescent 
Gems of magic and of beanty ; 
Woods of cherry, oak, and cedar. 
Stones of sand and lime and marble 
Fit for mansion, temple, palace. 

In the unrecorded {eons 
Of the past, O fair New Hampshire, 
Earth uplifted from her bosom 
Granite masses for thy mountains, 
Domes of mica, quartz, and feldspar. 
Pillars of thy strength and glory ; 
And the Master Artist fashioned 
Here at Redstone hills of granite. 
Granite rose-like, clear, and beauteous. 



43 




VIEW FROM MT. SURPRISE (VILLAGE OF INTERVALE) 



IN CRYSTAL HILLS 



FROM MT. SURPRISE 

THROUGH frngraiit dells and piny woods 

Whose spell the spirit binds, 
Through rarest sylvan solitudes 

The roadway upward winds. 

From the fair crest of Mt. Surprise, 

Set in a sea of green, 
A panorama beauteous lies, 

Softened by shade and sheen. 

Upon the far horizon's bar 

Rise the eternal hills, 
And morning light or evening star 

Their crown of glory hlls. 

Below, the Ledges gray and grim 

Like Parian pillars stand ; 
And Moat, in mystic shadows dim, 

Lies prone along the land. 

In peace beneath the northern sky. 

By ancient wood and dale, 
And kept by mountain warders, lie 

The homes of Intervale. 

45 




THE WIZARD BIRCH AT INTERVALE 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 



THE WIZARD BIRCH 

THOU Wizard Tree, set here in solitude, 

What changed thee from the fair form of thy kind ? 
Was it some vengeful demon of the wind 

That smote thee when thy trunk his way withstood ? 

Or did the sun, unheedful of thy good, 
Disdain to shine upon thy pearly rind 
And warm thy heart? Or hast thou not divined 

Why nature made of thee an alien in the wood ? 

Ten thousand thousand patterns, large and small, 
Hath nature for the fashion of her art ; 

And yet there is naught common in them all, 
Nor doth she from her pattern far depart. 

And thou, Old Tree, whose growth so strange hath been 

Hast yet within the red heart of thy kin. 




THE CATHEDRAL PINES AT INTERVALE 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 



THE CATHEDRAL PINES 

LIKE sentinels of somber hue and green, 
Tall, statel^^ and majestic, row on row, 
And stiaight as any arrow sped from bow. 

These old pines stand. Soft shadows lie between, 

And wandering liglits from over-arching sheen 
Fall downward on the needles brown below. 
Through these cool, fragrant forests deeps there flow 

Tlie sweetest strains of nature's fair demesne. 

here is place for loitering lover's feet. 
And the fond heart its secrets may reveal , 

Here one the far thoughts of his youth may meet, 
And all the wounds of life's stern battle heal ; 

And 'neath the organ harmony of pine 

The rapt soul here may bow at Nature's shrine. 



49 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 



THE CRYSTAL HILLS 

HILLS of Crystal, upward lifting, 

Gleaming with a thousand glories 

In the golden sun of morning. 

Traversed by a thousand shadows 

In the softer lights of even ; 

Are ye sentient of the sunlight, 

Are ye conscious of the shadow, 

Throbs your great heart to the wave-beat 

Ceaseless on the ocean's margin ? 

From the bosom of the Atlantic 
Years untold the sun hath risen, 
Casting crimson on your high crests; 
At his coming mists have vanished, 
Like the dreams of softest slumber 
When the daylight calls to action. 
Like the shadow on the child's face 
When the mother's kiss is given. 



50 



IN CR YS TAL HILLS 



Hills of Crystal, glorious, golden, 
Castles reared in childish fancy, 
Years agone, with you compare not ! 
I would lay me on your summits, 
Planned by breezes out of heaven, 
Breathed upon by purple vapors, 
^V^ rapped in odors of the forest, 
Lulled to rest by softest music 
Borne up from the aged ocean. 

Such the peace the gods imparted 
On some far Hesperian isle or 
Sunlit clime of stoi'ied icon. 



IN CR YS TAL HILLS 



I AM THE WIND 

Written in Thompson's Grove 
( iVe-iy England Magazine, February, 1907) 

1 AM the wind that crieth 

Wliere the Storm King strides, 

I am the wind that lieth 
On the fair hillsides, 

And man my puissance trietli 
Where his proud bark rides. 

When the great Void was riven 
By the hand that wrought. 

When light and life were given 
To fulfil His thought, 

I only, 'neath God's heaven, 
Had a bound set not. 

His messenger, I carried 
Seed of the wood and wold, 

And cities I have buried 
In ?eon's dust and mold 

Nathless my legions serried 
Have not yet grown old. 



52 



IN CR YS TAL HILLS 



Along my path the golden 
Cloud of morning flees, 

Wind-harps in forests olden 
Make I of the trees, 

And on my pinions holden 
Bi-ood I o'er the seas. 

l>e seasons fair and vernal. 
Or the snow be whirled, 

Like Destiny eternal 

Whose wing is never furled, 

With messages supernal 
1 course around the world. 

My work hath never ended. 
Since first time began ; 

And in my V)reath are blended 
Life and death for man. 

Free, mighty, sun-descended, 
I fulfil God's phm. 



53 



IN CR YS TAL HILLS 



OLD NEW HAMPSHIRE 

FAST DAY. 1899 
{In the Manchester Union) 

OLD New Hampshii-e, first to enter 
In the union of the Thii-teen, 
Thy brave sons withstood the Briton 
When the call to arms was sounded, 
Foremost in that mighty conflict 
For the freedom of a people ; 
And in later years rebellion 
Found a foe among the free-born 
Of thy hills and lakes and rivers. 

Thou hast given strength in battle, 
Wisdom in the halls of council. 
Stark and Webster, and a thousand 
Who have made our broad land richer. 
Products of thy field and quarries. 
Products of thy myriad spindles. 
Craft of brain and might of sinew. 
Thou hast uiven her resources. 



54 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 



On their granite bases resting, 
Piercing the eternal regions, 
Firmly stand thine ancient mountains. 
Stand as sentinels of freedom ; 
So thy virtues, deeply grounded 
In the faith our fathers cherished. 
Rise in action to sublime deeds, 
Rise in sacrifice and service. 

Christian were the old-time builders. 
Christian were there sons and daughters ; 
And the center of each hamlet. 
In those distant days and simple. 
Was the church, God's rough-hewn temple. 
And by men foreseeing planted 
In the wilderness. Old Dartmouth 
Ministered to state and and nation. 

One has spoken words of warning. 
One has bidden us to ponder 
On the ways almost forgotten, 
And restore the ancient landmarks, 
And rebuild the fallen churches. 



55 



IN CR YSTAL HILLS 

^^ 

Can it be the past is dying. 
Can it be God's arm is shortened, 
And onr father's hope was groundless ? 
Shall the old traditions perish, 
Shall we falter in the pathways, 
Falter in the ancient pathways 
Trodden by the consecrated? 

Rather let us think the ^Jt^ople, 
Listening to i-eceding voices, 
By the past ai'e still uplifted. 
Guided, strengthened, and ennobled; 
Rather let us trust the people 
Shall continue wise and faithful, 
Building on the tried foundations 
Edifices nobler, grander. 
Than the world has seen aforetime. 

Rouse ye, children of New Hamshire, 
Let your virtues, ever grounded 
In the faith your fathers cherished. 
Rise in action to sublime deeds. 
Rise in sacrifice and service. 



56 



JUL 6 1908 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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